The sentence above is nonsensical, of course. But it's no more nonsensical than what Palin, and others, have said about President Obama and his allies in the last few days.
As you may have heard, or read here, a provision of the House health reform bill would cover the cost of counselling for end-of-life planning, for those senior citizens who opted to get it. Palin--taking a cue from some other right-wing nuts--decided that meant Democrats wanted to euthanize the sick, elderly, and disabled.
Fortunately, Ezra Klein has now done an interview that helps clarify the issue. The interview is with a senator who supports the measure and actually introduced a version of it during the Senate HELP markups. And, lo and behold, it's a Republican: Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Early in the interview, Ezra asks, "How did this become a question of euthanasia?" Isakson doesn't mince words:
I have no idea. I understand--and you have to check this out--I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palin's web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up.
Kudos to Ezra for doing this interview. And kudos to Isakson for speaking up.